Thinking, about cycling. "Anybody whose mind is proud enough not to breed true secretly carries a bomb at the back of his brain; and so I suggest, just for the fun of the thing, taking that private bomb and carefully dropping it upon the model city of commonsense." (This blog began as an archive of DYNAMITE!, the newsletter of London Dynamo cycling club, which you can still access via "DYNAMITE! filed" in the list below on the left.)

DYNAMITE! #56, 27.05.05

November 21, 2010

DYNAMITE! The OFFICIAL London Dynamo Newsletter #56, 27.05.05

DUBLIN UP
It’s not often that DYNAMITE! feels a pang of envy, but we were as green as the Emerald Isle itself when we discovered that hundreds of cycling fans were cheering on two Dynamates this week as they took part in Ireland’s prestigious FBD Insurance Ras stage race. It sounds like they had a Cork-ing time! Sweet-talking Irishman IAN ‘KING OF’ PAINE proved he had a touch of the blarney by persuading TOM ‘HUMBLE’ HEMMANT to take part in the gruelling 1100km competition just nine days before the start on Sunday – so come with us as we relate how the two Dynamates doubled as riders in the five-man Dublin Excel Ravens team. Here come all the highs and Wick-lows of the first four days…

BAD LUCK OF THE IRISH
By the very definition of his nickname, Dynamo’s quiet man TOM ‘HUMBLE’ HEMMANT isn’t prone to exaggeration – so our ears pricked up when he described the FDB Ras as “absolutely crazy”. Surely an eight-day race that runs anticlockwise around the central part of Ireland can’t be as bonkers as an evening at Hillingdon? But the Putney point-gobbler explains: “The first day was insane with three major crashes. One of our team-mates damaged the tendons in his knee so badly that he has to have a cast on for three months.” Ouch! The relatively high incidence of spills is partly due to the super-fast speeds driven by high-quality riders such as Recycling star Chris Newton and former Tour of Spain points competition winner Malcolm Elliott. With a field of that calibre, Tom did a superb job finishing 36th on the opening stage from Dublin to Emyvale which saw the 200-strong peloton average 29mph. That’s not easy to do for 140km! Tom went on to take 38th at Tubbercurry the next day, taking him to 32 on the general classification – but disaster struck around 40km from stage three’s finish at the westerly town of Lisdoonvarna. Tom reveals: “Something happened in front of me so I had to pile into a stone wall and then loads of people came into me from behind. I snapped my bars and one of my shifters so I needed to get a spare bike – but all the team cars were stopped by the crash so I had to run down the road to get ours.” It doesn’t get any more unlucky than that! Having lost valuable time getting another bicycle, battered Tom eventually crossed the line in 148th place and finished 68th at Templemore the following day – but at least he could console himself with the full pro treatment from his team’s support crew, which consisted of a masseur, a manager and a driver who doubled as bike cleaner. There’s probably not much left of your Serotta to clean, pal! The Ras concludes on Sunday – and we’ll be bringing you full details of the remaining four stages next week, including an account of how Tom’s team-mate IAN ‘KING OF’ PAINE managed to come off twice. Back in Blighty, Hemmant’s hectic racing schedule has managed to impress newly-married DOMINIC ‘I WANT IT ALL’ PAUL, who comments: “He must be living on For Goodness Shakes!” The high-achieving triathlete dropped DYNAMITE! a line to say that he won his age group at last weekend’s the Blenheim triathlon and came 8th among the 2,200-strong field. Nice work, fella! The weekend also saw a rare smile on the face of grouchy club president GUY ‘MAINWARING’ ANDREWS when he came second at the Maldon and District 25 mile time trial – and STUART ‘POSTAL’ JEFFREYS tried to steal DARREN ‘PACKING ‘EM’ MINSHALL’s crown as the Hardest Working Man In Dynamo by nabbing the No.6 spot at Saturday’s 4th cat race at Eastway on Saturday before taking 3rd at Dusnfold the next day. Milkshake guru Stuart witnessed JUSTIN ‘ANOTHER WIN’ SIMS come first at the aerodrome after spending most of the 30 mile race at the front. He’ll come in handy now he’s a 3rd cat! And as one Dynamate enters the thirds, another leaves. Human powerhouse GUY ‘THE ENGINE’ POWDRILL drove a six-man break at the 3/4/W/J race Eastway before finishing 6th, giving him the necessary points to move up to the category 2 world of pain. He won’t know what’s hit him! The lanky property broker, who proudly described his performance in Lea Valley as “magnificent”, went on to take 8th at the 80km race in Benenden the next day and polished off his impressive week by taking the No.5 spot at Crystal Palace on Tuesday, which was his first race as a second cat. Nice one, chum!

MARSHAL ASK
While waiting for his upgraded license to slowly make its way down from the BCF’s Manchester HQ, newly-promoted Guy decided that he will help out his 3rd cat buddies by riding as their domestique at this weekend’s Surrey League three-day race. What a gent! You could witness this once-in-a-lifetime occurrence and help out event organiser Martin Snow by volunteering to marshal on Sunday’s stage. A certain south coast club has pulled out of marshalling duties at the last minute, which means that a dozen people are needed to cover quiet areas around Nuthurst, Maplehurst and Copsale. Call Martin on 01737 762 605 or e-mail martin.safesounds@btopenworld.com if you can offer assistance. Let’s give him the Dyna-manpower he needs!

WE’LL BE OFF IN A LIFFEY
It’s been a long way to Tipperary, but we’re finally back home. There will be many gallons of Guinness knocked back before we take another walk along the Liffey, but it will be just seven days, to be sure, before your favourite Dynamatic update returns. Until then, always remember that we are a monosyllabic Sean Kelly and we would be nothing without you, our dynamic Sean Yates. So please keep Dyna-mailing your news, gossip, and further sightings of the elusive KEN ‘DANNY BOY’ BUIST to news@londondynamo.co.uk – or simply hit your reply button if you are reading this on e-mail. The deadline, as ever, is Wednesday afternoon for Friday’s edition. And now, as we clasp our lucky shamrock, it only remains for us to remind you about…